Where da rum come from
Mar. 23rd, 2011 01:12 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chuckroMany years ago, on a family trip to Barbados, my parents went on a tour to learn about Barbadian rum. Turns out, the sugar cane was shipped to New Jersey and the rum was actually made there. Disappointing, really.
We went on the distillery tour for Old New Orleans Rum to actually learn about how rum was made, and were not disappointed.
As you might expect, it starts with an absurd amount of molasses, which is mixed with yeast in a giant vat and allowed to sit. The yeast turns a bunch of the sugars into alcohol, and then the mix is pumped off into a tank where it's distilled, going from about 10% alcohol to about 40%. That distilled mix is then purified--in this state, it's basically moonshine, so they need to remove the ethyl alcohol and acetone from it so drinkers won't go blind and die. After purification, you have a clear mix that's 90% alcohol and 10% sugar oils. (And during all of this, the rum is never, ever boiled because those oils would burn off and the rum would effectively become vodka.) The mix is diluted back down to about 80 proof and put through a charcoal filter just to be sure. (Aside: Charcoal is recyclable! Apparently they ship it back to a dude who bakes it at 1200 degrees, then sells it back to them to use again for filtering.) Then one of three things happens:
- It's bottled. This is clear rum, suitable for mixing into frozen drinks.
- It's put into a barrel for aging. Apparently the law only allows whiskey barrels to be used once, but rum barrels can be used twice, so they buy used whiskey barrels to age the rum in. The longer it ages, the darker color it turns. Three-year run is paper-bag colored, so they cook caramel and add that to it before bottling to make it prettier. Ten-year rum needs no assistance. Aging mellows the rum, making it smoother and better for sipping straight. Also, more expensive.
- It's aged in a barrel and then spiced. Their version of spiced rum uses the standard spices (cinnamon, cloves, ginger, nutmeg) but because it's New Orleans, they also use cayenne and black pepper. It works really well.
We saw the spice shelf and got to stiff a bunch of infusions they were trying, including blackberry and ginger rums that smelled fantastic. We weren't allowed to smell the bacon rum, because apparently it was an abomination. I was disappointed about that. (We also never found out the explanation of the mysterious "mustache spice", a bottle labeled only with a picture of a mustache.)
Then there was a tasting, which included a special bonus taste of their hopefully-coming-out-soon Gingeroo, which is sweet, carbonated, about 20 proof and tastes like a Dark n' Stormy. I also learned that I could develop a taste for sipping well-aged rum, but for $55/bottle, I'd prefer not to.
If you are in New Orleans and like a fun "food tour", I'd certainly recommend this one.
We went on the distillery tour for Old New Orleans Rum to actually learn about how rum was made, and were not disappointed.
As you might expect, it starts with an absurd amount of molasses, which is mixed with yeast in a giant vat and allowed to sit. The yeast turns a bunch of the sugars into alcohol, and then the mix is pumped off into a tank where it's distilled, going from about 10% alcohol to about 40%. That distilled mix is then purified--in this state, it's basically moonshine, so they need to remove the ethyl alcohol and acetone from it so drinkers won't go blind and die. After purification, you have a clear mix that's 90% alcohol and 10% sugar oils. (And during all of this, the rum is never, ever boiled because those oils would burn off and the rum would effectively become vodka.) The mix is diluted back down to about 80 proof and put through a charcoal filter just to be sure. (Aside: Charcoal is recyclable! Apparently they ship it back to a dude who bakes it at 1200 degrees, then sells it back to them to use again for filtering.) Then one of three things happens:
- It's bottled. This is clear rum, suitable for mixing into frozen drinks.
- It's put into a barrel for aging. Apparently the law only allows whiskey barrels to be used once, but rum barrels can be used twice, so they buy used whiskey barrels to age the rum in. The longer it ages, the darker color it turns. Three-year run is paper-bag colored, so they cook caramel and add that to it before bottling to make it prettier. Ten-year rum needs no assistance. Aging mellows the rum, making it smoother and better for sipping straight. Also, more expensive.
- It's aged in a barrel and then spiced. Their version of spiced rum uses the standard spices (cinnamon, cloves, ginger, nutmeg) but because it's New Orleans, they also use cayenne and black pepper. It works really well.
We saw the spice shelf and got to stiff a bunch of infusions they were trying, including blackberry and ginger rums that smelled fantastic. We weren't allowed to smell the bacon rum, because apparently it was an abomination. I was disappointed about that. (We also never found out the explanation of the mysterious "mustache spice", a bottle labeled only with a picture of a mustache.)
Then there was a tasting, which included a special bonus taste of their hopefully-coming-out-soon Gingeroo, which is sweet, carbonated, about 20 proof and tastes like a Dark n' Stormy. I also learned that I could develop a taste for sipping well-aged rum, but for $55/bottle, I'd prefer not to.
If you are in New Orleans and like a fun "food tour", I'd certainly recommend this one.
